Longs Drug to Buy 38 Rite Aid Sites

Rite Aid Corp. said Wednesday that it is selling 38 California stores to Longs Drug Stores for $186 million, confirming Wall Street speculation that the nation’s third-largest pharmacy chain would sell some of its poor-performing sites.

The purchase by Walnut Creek-based Longs includes five stores in Southern California and 33 in Northern California. Those stores average 34,000 square feet, a larger-size format Longs has made its signature and Rite Aid has failed to make work since buying the Thrifty PayLess chain in 1996.

Longs’ purchase--expected to be finalized by the end of October--brings the chain’s holdings to about 420 stores in six Western states. Rite Aid will still operate 608 stores in California; it has 3,800 stores nationwide. Local sites changing hands include Longs stores in Hemet, Laguna Niguel, Manhattan Beach and Los Angeles’ Beverly Connection location.